


Master Hunter

by SubwayWolf



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Smoking, Walks On The Beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-06 14:23:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8756005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SubwayWolf/pseuds/SubwayWolf
Summary: Post-mission, smoke-filled stroll on the beach.





	

**Author's Note:**

> for [selbi](https://twitter.com/SelbiWasTaken), my overwatch secret santa!! they suggested a widow/reaper walk on the beach!!! totally not what i'm used to writing at all lol, but i had fun with it and i hope you & your loved ones have a great holiday!!! <3
> 
> this secret santa was run by the amazing and talented [jailskey](https://twitter.com/jailskey)! thanks again for doing this event and putting time into it, you're amazing~!!
> 
> have a great holiday everyone!!!!!!!! stay safe and be happy <3

Even successful missions left the team drained. Agents Sombra, Reaper, and Widowmaker did not talk after the job was done. Not even praise or congratulations were exchanged, just silence. Of course this was a better alternative than blame and arguing, but this mission had been successful, so there was no place for that. 

There was a clear distance between them. Gabriel liked everyone at a distance, but he knew too well the dangers of a fragmented team dynamic. He was deep in thought, though, and preferred solitude at times like this.

Sombra interrupted him. “Hey!” She got his attention loudly, snapping him out of any calm he’d amassed. “Widow went off somewhere. You should round her up before the jet comes in.”

Gabe looked at her quizzically, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was on her phone, barely paying him any attention. He asked, “What do you mean, she _’went off’_? Where did she go?”

“I dunno.” Clearly Sombra did not care about Amelie’s whereabouts; they got along well enough, it was just was Sombra was too lazy to go retrieve her. “Go find her yourself.”

Gabriel sighed and went towards the window. Being talked at by subordinates was something he never got used to. At least during his time in Blackwatch and Overwatch, people would address him with respect and call him Commander. At Talon, there was none of that.

The building they were stationed in was empty aside from cobwebs. The city seemed like a ghost town, too, at least this portion of it. That was rare for a city on the coast, but given the amount of militant omnic activity here, it was not surprising that tourism was non-existent. The team waited for extraction in a building by the beach, which meant Gabriel knew exactly where to find Amelie.

He did find her outside. There was an expansive, completely empty beach not far away from the extraction point. The beach was framed on either side by staggered, water-weathered cliffs which looked as if they could tear up any ship that dared to come near. The water looked cold, but blue and beautiful. Once, Gabriel figured, this beach was fully occupied many summer days, with families, children, beach towels, volleyball, and the like – but no longer.

Lacroix was there, seated on one of the smaller rock formations, looking out across the horizon. The sun was setting… if Gabriel was younger, he might have looked out on this scene and noticed the beauty of it, but those days were over.

Though the sun was setting, it was hot. Gabriel was still in his field outfit, all black; he wanted to get back inside. From a distance away, he called out to her. “Lacroix! We’re supposed to stay inside until the jet picks us up.”

She remained sitting. Her long hair, tied back, reached so far down that the very tips of the end of the ponytail curled onto the rock she sat upon. Her legs were crossed, and she propped herself up with one hand. With the other she held a freshly-lit cigarette. Even her profile, darkened further by the distance of the setting sun, had a sort of dusky beauty about it.

She did not answer. Her eyes did not even turn to look at him. She blinked slowly and took a drag off her cigarette.

For a half second, he wondered if he had spoken at all, or if he had accidentally went wraith, that invisible musty mist which made the world go black. 

Gabriel stepped closer. Shouting would do him no good. He lowered his voice. “People can see you out here.” That wasn’t entirely true. As far as he could tell, nobody was around. They were alone here.

“I needed a smoke,” she protested. Her eyes, fixed on the horizon, still did not turn. “And… I like the beach.”

It was not often that Amelie talked about something she liked. When she first joined Talon, she didn’t like anything. Happiness had gotten washed out of her. But over time, truths and memories began to resurface. This was a painful part of the recovery process, but it was a beautiful one, too. Of course, Gabriel never told her this out loud.

Gabe decided not to respond to her. It didn’t matter what he said, anyway. She would not listen to him. He folded his arms and looked out towards the horizon. There was nothing special about it, in his eyes.

Amelie sighed. The breath was light, but it had a force to it. She was clearly annoyed. “Extraction should be quicker than this.” She turned her face, but her eyes did not meet his. “Why is it taking so long this time?”

She was right; the wait time was getting ridiculous. Widow, Reaper, and Sombra were Talon’s top field agents, genuine prized possessions of an organization which would frankly be next-to-nothing without them. The truth was, he had no idea why it was taking so long. It was suspicious to him, too. But he said nothing.

“Let me guess.” She paused to take a drag off her cigarette. “You don’t know.”

No point in holding it back. “I don’t know.”

“Retrieving intel is a small part of the process. Beyond that, we have no idea what they do with the intelligence we skillfully provide.” She blew out the smoke in a quick grey cloud. It lingered in the air for a few moments before disappearing. “Ah, but we are simple field operatives. Why should they tell us anything?” She shook her head. “If we knew what they were really up to, we could take them out, potentially.”

That was dangerous talk. Reyes took a few steps closer. “Unless they’re doing something we agree with.”

“I doubt that is the case.” The Widow stepped off her perch on the rock and walked into the sand of the beach. Gabriel watch the soles of her shoes sink down into the sand, but she walked effortlessly. “Walk with me, Gabriel.”

She began to move away. It took Gabe a few seconds to go after her. 

He caught up and thought about putting a hand on her shoulder, touching her hand, contacting her in some way – but he didn’t. He balled a fist instead. His voice came out with a touch of anger. “If the higher-ups heard you saying this shit, they’d have your head. You’d better watch your mouth.”

A corner of her lips upturned in what could have been a smile. “It’s almost like you care about me.”

While Gabriel could think of nothing to say to that, Amelie softened the silence by handing him her cigarette. His eyes watched the growing trail of ash, and he could feel desire in his brain building for the taste, but he did not take it.

Finally, she looked at him. Beautiful yellow eyes, half-lidded, long eyelashes fanning out. She appeared disinterested, always. “Oh. Do you want one of your own?”

Gabe did not answer but she retrieved another from the pack, along with her lighter. In half a second, flame sparked, and she gave Gabriel the lit cigarette. She held it steady even as they walked, down the beach, towards nothing but those dangerous cliffs.

This one he gladly took. He only had to lift the mask a few inches for access to his lips. The first drag felt good. The taste was very strong and gave him a clean nicotine high; wherever in Europe Amelie has her cigs shipped from, they were clearly made illegally and without regulation. These would definitely kill them quicker.

Amelie did not avert her gaze. She spoke in a low voice, very calm. “I can’t see your eyes.”

“Excuse me?”

“If I can’t see them, I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

Beneath his mask, Gabriel furrowed his brow. He wondered if she was messing with him. It seemed unlikely that she had always wondered or cared; but Amelie always surprises him. Regardless, he accused her of the opposite. “You don’t want to know that.”

“I do,” she immediately interrupted. Then she gazed out across the ocean again. “What do you think of, when you look out at the ocean?”

The ocean? Reaper blinked; saw Gibraltar. The sun not setting, but rising; the sky cream and pink and gold; the sea calm and pale blue. Foam splashing across the cliffs – the scent of it, pure salt, the taste on his tongue. His heart felt strange. “The ocean reminds me of…” _Overwatch. Amari, McCree, Morrison._ “Night.”

“Night?” Amelie repeated.

“How the black swallows the light of the stars… when the moon is hidden and eclipsed.”

Amelie smirked. She flicked out the ashes of her cigarette into the sand below, and a gust of wind carried the embers away. “You’re worse at lying than you are at marksmanship, and that’s saying something.”

That woman, she could read anyone like a book. Those yellow eyes of hers, like a cat’s. She had lied – she didn’t need to see beneath the mask or the hood. She knew everything. For someone whose heart was as cold as a corpse’s, she was emotionally intelligent. It made her a damn good agent, but an annoyingly nosy friend.

Walking on sand annoyed Gabriel, to a degree – the way it shifted under him, changing. It was a lot like walking aboard a boat, which he also hated. He preferred solid ground beneath his feet. Still, there was a certain peace to the sound their padded footsteps made. 

Hers stopped.

She took his gloved hand in hers, for a moment, just to stop him.

He did stop. It took a lot of will power to refrain from snatching his hand away from her reflexively, but something about her touch made it easy to hold on and move towards her.

Amelie moved towards him, facing him, inches away. She lifted his mask. He could see her better now, her half-lidded eyes watching him with disinterest, peeking underneath the white metal to glimpse at his face. She was the only one who had seen him without his mask and hood since the incident. 

Her lips were so close. He could taste smoke in the air that passed between them. The cigarette between his fingers kept burning and went untouched. Hers, half its size, dropped into the sand and died under her heel.

“It isn’t often we can be alone,” she sighed.

Not true. Even with armed Talon engineers and security soldiers with eyes on them all hours of the day, loneliness was just as prominent as hate and anger. It made the temperature and tension at the watch-point raise. The temperature between them shifted, too; her words leaving hot breath against his lips. 

Amelie raised her fingers to Gabriel’s chin and tilted his face, then leaned in and pressed a kiss on his lips.

The sensation was cold. Many things regarding Amelie were like this. But it was getting easier for her. Slowly, they grew closer, and slowly, everything grew warmer. 

Trust in their organization was likely something that could never be achieved. But trust in each other was exceptionally special.

**Author's Note:**

> add me on battlenet PC SubwayWolf#1494, im a junkrat main/lucio secondary


End file.
